


Accidents Happen

by LiterateChick



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Gen, accidental reveal, nino is bad at keeping secrets, poor marinette tries so hard, this is not gonna end well
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-15
Updated: 2016-04-14
Packaged: 2018-05-26 23:43:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6260626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiterateChick/pseuds/LiterateChick
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nino sees something he wasn't supposed to see. Now Marinette isn't the only one who has a secret to keep.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> ahhh this is the first fanfic I've posted in YEARS but GOD I love these characters too much to resist!
> 
> Someone really needs to sit these babs down and have a long chat about appropriate/safe places to transform because honestly have you seen some of this shit? They're always transforming behind billboards or like in the middle of the subway station. Crouching behind a park bench isn't gonna keep you secret kids, you stand up for your transformations! I've seen it!

Alya was on the scene, Alya was always on the scene. Sometimes Nino just couldn’t keep up with her. They had been hanging out (on a date? He still wasn’t sure how they were categorizing their relationship) when her Ladybug alarm went off and she took off in the direction of the akuma attack, phone already out and with barely a smile in apology. Not that Nino minded, it was something you learned to expect around her.

“One day that girl is going to get into so much trouble.” Nino said to himself, watching the Ladyblog livestream on his phone while he walked towards the bank of the Seine where Alya was, along with Ladybug and Chat Noir. The battle was over, he’d missed it all, but he didn’t really care about that. What with how often danger seemed strangely drawn to him and his friends he didn’t feel the need to seek it out like his… Well whatever Alya was to him.

“Ladybug!” Alya’s voice came through his headphones, “Ladybug, do you have time for a few questions?”

“Not today, sorry!” Ladybug’s words were drowned out as she yo-yoed away in the middle of her sentence, waving goodbye.

Nino was distracted from the livestream by a flash of red in the corner of his eye. He looked up to see Ladybug land nearby, facing away from him. She crouched behind a mailbox, still in full view of the sidewalk. He was about to say something, maybe ask for a picture for the Ladyblog, when she disappeared in a flash of gold, leaving Marinette crouched in her place.

Nino’s brain filled with white noise.

He was dimly aware of outside sensory input: Alya’s voice in his headphones as she wrapped up the livestream, chill spring wind hitting him in the face, the sight of Marinette standing up and looking around smugly, still thinking she hadn’t been seen. He knew vaguely that his mouth was hanging open. He was slightly aware that he had just seen the best superhero in Paris turn into the quiet girl that sat behind him in class. He had almost put together what that meant.

Marinette still hadn’t seen him. _I should say something,_  he thought. _I definitely need to say something._

Some kind of half strangled noise fell out of his throat.

Marinette’s back stiffened and she turned, finally seeing him. Her sky blue eyes were wide in panic for a moment, but as soon as she saw him she smiled with an air of forced calm and started to babble.

“Oh Nino! Hi! I heard there was an akuma attack nearby, which I wasn’t at! Um, I just heard about it! Uh, is Alya still at the Seine? Or, ah, wherever the akuma attack was I mean! If, er, if there even was one, right? Uh, I’m just here because… Um… Because…”

Somewhere in the middle of her nervous babble something clicked back into place in Nino’s brain. Not quite the whole thing, but enough that he was able to think almost straight. He pulled his now silent headphones down around his neck. Marinette stared at him in silence for a moment, trying to find words to explain what he already knew the answer to. In the silence his phone started to buzz. He looked down to see Alya’s name on the caller ID.

Before he could answer Marinette had snatched the phone from his hand and hit decline. She stood there, holding the phone to her chest. He stared at her a moment before speaking.

“Dude.”

Her expression had gone from panicked to determined as she stared at him and his mild irritation (that was masking ridiculous amounts of shock). “You can’t tell her!” Marinette said quickly, dropping her efforts to explain away her presence.

“Okay, Marinette, I’m not sure what’s going on but seriously, gimme my phone back.” She took a step back and he was tugged along with her by the headphone cord still plugged in. She pulled the cord out and handed it to him before jumping back a couple more steps.

“No! I mean, there is nothing to tell, of course…” She trailed off, unable to pretend like nothing was wrong and also explain why she stole his phone.

“Marinette. I saw you.” He thought back to what he saw and wondered if he might be mistaken. But then she sighed, looked defeated and afraid for a moment.

“Nino please. You can not. Tell. Anyone.”

There went all doubt, then. His shocked state melted away at her lack of denial, and he started freaking out.

“Holy… Oh my god Marinette, just… Oh my god!” He put his hands on his head, turned away from her, turned back, gaped, pointed. She just stood there, chewing her lip anxiously and glancing around for anyone who could possibly overhear. People were starting to fill the streets again, they always tended to empty out during an akuma attack but it didn’t take long after the news that Ladybug had won for them to fill back up. Marinette grabbed his arm, shaking him to get his attention.

“Can you pretend nothing is weird for like ten minutes?” She asked him. He recognized that tone of voice, but not from his interactions with nervous, excitable Marinette. It was a leader voice, a voice of someone who was used to getting people out of trouble.

He nodded and heard his phone buzz in her grip. She frowned at it and hit decline again.

“She’s going to wonder why I’m not answering her.” Nino pointed out. “If I could just…” He reached for his phone but Marinette jumped back from him again, holding the phone out as far as she could.

“Not yet, not till I know you won’t tell.” She said. He crossed his arms as she brought the phone down and considered it.

“Marinette, I promise I, hey!” She had grabbed his wrist and pulled it away from his body, spinning so she was facing away from him, arm in a tight grip. He couldn’t pull it back and she was a full arms length away, too far for him to reach around with his other arm to grab her. The effortless way she did it really convinced him that this was not Marinette as he was used to dealing with her. This was, he supposed, Ladybug.

She used his finger print to unlock his phone before jumping away again, typing something out.

“Hey no, that’s not fair!” Nino exclaimed, trying to get it back. She danced out of his reach, still typing, then hit send and shoved his phone into her purse. She snapped it shut and held it close.

“I just gave her an excuse so she won’t miss you.” Marinette said. “I promise I didn’t say anything embarrassing.”

“Well, you better not have.” Nino frowned at Marinette’s purse, wondering what she could have said. She didn’t give him long though before she started pulling him down the street, leading the way at a march.

“Where are we going?” Nino asked. Marinette huffed.

“Somewhere I know is private.”

****

Marinette’s room was so pink it gave Nino a vague headache. And it was full of pictures of Adrien, which was weird. This whole situation was weird enough without pictures of his best friend staring at him from every wall.

“So…” Nino said after a moment of awkward silence. “I thought, maybe, just now I saw you turn into… or I saw you appear from, or…” He took a breath. He was sitting on her desk chair and she was pacing back and forth in front of him, fidgeting with her purse strap. She refused to take it off. He started his sentence again. “I saw Ladybug turn into you.” He watched her closely for her reaction. She stopped pacing, closed her eyes and hugged her purse close to her chest. He took a moment before saying,

“You… are? Ladybug?”

Marinette sighed and Nino was surprised to hear a tremor in her breath. His eyes widened, hoping desperately that she wasn’t about to cry. He never knew what to do around crying people, and Alya would never forgive him for making her best friend cry if she found out.

Which, he remembered, she never could.

“I’m sorry.” Marinette whispered to her bag. It was strange, but Nino heard the threat of tears in her voice and jumped up.

“Don’t be sorry!” He exclaimed. “I’m not mad! Please don’t cry!”

“No, not you.” Marinette sniffed, her eyes watering. She clicked open her purse and a tiny red head popped out of it and waved to him. “This is Tikki, she gives me my powers. I promised I would never let anyone know who I was.” A few tears slipped down Marinette’s face, and she buried it in her hands. Nino stood in front of her, looking back and forth from the little red head and Marinette, holding his hands half way towards her, unsure what to do.

“I’m so sorry, Tikki, I failed.” Marinette’s voice was muffled by her palms. Tikki flew out of her purse (it was really small, and pretty cute once you got past the sheer WTF) and landed on Marinette’s shoulder, seemingly trying to comfort the crying girl.

“It’s okay, Marinette.” Tikki said in a high pitched voice, the kind of voice you expect a fairy in a video game to have. “It was an accident. You’re not the first Ladybug this has happened to.”

“Yeah, it was an accident Marinette!” Nino cautiously put a hand on Marinette’s shoulder, the one that the little red fairy wasn’t on. “I promise I won’t tell anyone, it’ll be okay!”

Marinette cried into her hands for a few more awkward moments before she took a deep breath and looked up. She took a couple breaths to steady herself before smiling apologetically at Nino. He smiled back in what he hoped was a comforting manner.

“Sorry,” she said, her voice still full of emotion. She coughed a little to clear her throat and started wiping her eyes on her sleeve. Nino lunged for a box of tissues he had noticed on her desk earlier, holding them out to her. She accepted them with a watery smile. “I’m okay now.” She assured him.

“Okay, good, cause Alya would never forgive me if she found out I made her best friend cry.” Nino frowned, watching Marinette wipe her face for a moment before asking “So Alya really doesn’t know?”

“No, and you have to promise not to tell her.” Marinette was all business again, shaking her head emphatically. “No one was ever supposed to find out.”

Nino frowned. “You know if you told her she wouldn’t tell anyone, right?” He said. “Like, Alya loves you dude, if you told her not to tell she wouldn’t ever.”

Marinette shook her head. “I can’t tell anyone. No one knows except for you, and it has to stay like that.”

“But why?” Nino sat back on her desk chair, leaning forwards with his elbows on his knees. “I mean, what would happen if you told someone?”

Marinette didn’t answer, just turned and started pacing again, Tikki hovering around her, too worried to get to far away.

“I just can’t, Nino. It’s really important. And you can’t either, not anyone. No one in the world knows.”

Nino’s brow furrowed as he thought of something. “Not even Chat Noir?”

Marinette’s laugh-snort surprised him. “Especially not Chat. Can you imagine? He’d be over here all the time with his bad jokes and his stupid face.”

Nino was surprised. Before whenever anyone brought up Chat Noir Marinette had always been his strongest defender, but that was her talking about him with the benefit of distance, when no one suspected she knew him personally. Nino wondered what exactly their relationship was like.

“I always just thought that, because you two were partners, that would mean you shared everything. I mean, you guys seem to really trust each other and…”

“Oh I trust Chat with my life.” Marinette assured him, sitting on the edge of her lounge and bracing herself to sit upright with her hands. “I know he’d keep it a secret without me even asking, but that doesn’t mean it would be a good idea to tell him who I really am. Chat is…” She sighed and her gaze wandered, Nino could see she was looking for the right words to describe something she’d never had to explain to anyone else before. “Chat is great, but he’s ridiculous. He makes really bad puns all the time and he’s super flirty with everyone, like have you ever met him?”

Nino shook his head. “Only briefly.”

“Well count your stars. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I totally love him, but god, what a dumb cat.” Marinette rolled her eyes and smiled, and Nino twisted his mouth shut to hide his own knowing smile. Alya had her theories about the nature of Ladybug and Chat Noir’s relationship, and despite what he knew about Marinette’s crush Nino was starting to suspect that they weren’t actually that far off.

Once Marinette started talking about her other life she couldn’t seem to stop. She told Nino about what it was like to fight an akuma victim, about how freeing it felt to swing over the rooftops of Paris, about how when she first found her miraculous she almost gave them to Alya. She laughed about it, but Nino thought it probably hadn’t been that funny for her at the time. She seemed relived to finally have someone to talk about her double life with and Nino just smiled with her and listened and encouraged her to go on. It was clear that, even if she hadn’t known it, she had been dying to share this part of her life with someone. It probably would have been better with Alya or her parents, but Nino was there now so he was gonna listen. It was over an hour before he checked the time and decided he should go home. Marinette nodded when he said that, and reached into her bag to pull out his phone.

“You promise you won’t tell a soul?” She asked, gripping his phone tight. He nodded. “You won’t even let any hint slip?”

“I’ve kept your crush on my best friend secret for months now, haven’t I?” He said as a joke, and Marinette blushed and narrowed her eyes at him. He laughed apologetically. “Alya talks about you like all the time, Mari. It came out ages ago.”

“I know.” Marinette glared at him. “Promise this won’t come out?”

“I swear.” Nino put his hand on his heart. “Not the smallest hint that you are Ladybug will ever cross these lips.”

“Cause if you did I’d absolutely have to kill you.”

“I would be disappointed if you didn’t.”

Marinette looked at him with narrowed eyes for a moment longer. Nino was one hundred percent honest, he had absolutely no intention on revealing what he knew. Marinette must have believed him because she handed his phone to him. He fought the urge to see what she had texted Alya. He did quickly check if he had missed anything. 23 new messages. Probably most from Alya.

“Seriously though, you should tell Alya.” Nino said, putting his phone in his pocket. “She’d really want to know.”

Marinette didn’t respond, just twisted her mouth into a frown. He put a hand on her shoulder. “At least think about it.” He said, and she nodded. He grinned and held out a fist. “Awesome!” She laughed a little as she bumped it.

****

The next day at school when Marinette got to class Nino held out his fist to her, and she bumped it on the way past his desk. Adrien and Alya were already sitting, and as Nino turned to face the girls he caught sight out of the corner of his eye of Alya raising an eyebrow at Marinette as she slid into her seat. Marinette shrugged.

“Hey,” Nino said to the group at large, “me and Adrien were talking about going to see a movie on Friday, you two should come.” Marinette shot him a look that suggested she knew what he was about. He looked pointedly between her and Adrien, who had turned around to nod at Alya and Marinette, and winked. Alya was the only other one who noticed and she was looking with confusion between Nino and Marinette as her friend balled up a piece of notebook paper and threw it at Nino’s head.

“Yeah, that sounds great.” Alya said, a tad curiously. Marinette turned her smile briefly and shyly to Adrien. The two boys swung round to face forwards in their seats as the teacher walked in.

“Since when are you and Nino such good friends?” He overheard Alya whisper. He didn’t her Marinette respond, but could imagine her little shrug. It had been hard not to tell Alya, he could admit that. But Marinette was counting on him, and even though he didn’t completely understand her need for secrecy he would respect it.

Besides, he’d seen the text Marinette sent Alya.

_sorry mom called worried abt attack i had 2 go home see u later ;)_

Just the right mix of caring and cool, with a tad of flirty. She’d even emulated his texting style, when he knew hers was only a tad more formal. At least, she used punctuation occasionally. Marinette was a real friend, a good one, and he would be damned if he ever let her secret slip. He would definitely not do that. Nope. Not even a hint.

This was not going to be easy.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poor Nino, he tries so hard and his life is getting so complicated

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh my god how to boys even talk to each other??? this is why i never write male mcs. special thanks to my main girl [http://thehushmonalisa.tumblr.com/](url)for all her help on this god bless

Once the shock had worn off a lot of things actually started to make sense about Marinette being Ladybug. Like why Ladybug always knew the names of their classmates. Or why Marinette was always late for class and why she never wanted to go with Alya to watch an akuma attack. Or why Ladybug had the same height and build and hairstyle as Marinette.

“Wow,” he muttered to himself, “Marinette really does look just like Ladybug.” Honestly he couldn’t understand how no one had put it together before. It seemed so obvious now.

“What?”

Only then did Nino remember where he was. He was still in the classroom, Adrien was right beside him, and he had made that last observation out loud. He was looking at Ladybug’s picture in the first place because Adrien had the Ladyblog pulled up on his phone. He glanced wide-eyed from Adrien to Marinette, who was still sitting at her desk packing her things to leave for lunch break. She was glaring at him, a look of wide-eyed fury. He quickly looked back to Adrien.

“Um, I mean no she doesn’t!” Nino heard a thump behind him that must have been Marinette’s head hitting her desk.

“Um, okay.” Adrien was giving him a “you feeling alright buddy?” kind of look but thankfully didn’t question him further.

“C’mon dude, let’s go.” Nino stood up a little too quickly and risked a crisis-averted-thumbs-up to Marinette while Adrien was distracted with his bag. Marinette, who had a red mark on her forehead, glared at him. Nino ushered Adrien out of the classroom as quickly as possible.

“I mean, she’s just so cool!” Adrien had pulled out his phone again and Nino had to keep him from running into people while they walked through the halls. It was usually like this the day after the Ladyblog updated, and normally Nino would tease Adrien about his fanboy crush. But now he was just trying not to say the wrong thing. He’d already got close enough to ruining everything in the classroom and it felt too much like Adrien was testing his ability to keep a secret. So he let Adrien babble on about Ladybug, not quite listening, till they got out on the sidewalk.

“You okay man?” Adrien asked while they were walking down the front steps. “You’re being weirdly quiet.”

_Oh, y’know,_ Nino thought, _just trying not to spill that the girl you’re praising sits behind you in class. Oh, and she’s got a huge crush on you._ That would be going back on two solemn promises of secrecy at once, and Nino was better then that. At least, he hoped he was.

“Yeah man of course. Just, y’know, school. Yuck.” That was pathetic. Thank god Adrien wasn’t the type to be suspicious.

Nino and Adrien ate lunch in the park near the school. Adrien laid out his jacket to sit on and Nino sat pulling up handfuls of grass. In order to disguise the fact that tearing up grass was due to his secret keeping induced stress he piled handfuls of it onto Adrien’s lap and head, just a way for one friend to slightly annoy another. Adrien would not shut up about Ladybug and Nino was trying so hard not to say anything. The raw tearing sound of grass coming up punctuated Adrien’s exclamations.

“Oh my god, dude!” Nino finally exclaimed in desperation. He had to change the subject, if Adrien kept talking about Ladybug he was going to explode. In the wake of his exclamation Adrien blinked at him in dumb silence, and Nino realized he might have sounded more aggressive than he’d intended to. “Um, did you get that new video game yet?” He asked in a pathetic attempt to quickly change the subject. Adrien let it slide, and the two of them talked about the new fighting game that came out the week before. Nino suspected Adrien had every gaming system on earth, and sometimes joked that that was the only reason the two of them were friends. Which was a ridiculous statement, of course, because Nino was rarely ever able to go to Adrien’s house, he’d only been there three times. Adrien was always busy with something, and even on the days he wasn’t he tended to be late to any planned hangout or suddenly remember a previous engagement. If Nino didn’t believe that he was actually always that busy they might have problems, but he’d seen Adrien’s schedule. It really was _that_ ridiculous.

After lunch Nino and Adrien had study period with Marinette and Alya. The four of them sat together at one of the square library tables and for about fifteen minutes it looked like they were actually going to study. Everyone had their books out and it took a while before they descended completely into whispered chatter.

It started innocently enough. “What movie were you guys thinking of seeing?” Alya whispered across the table to Nino. He answered, and somehow ten minutes later all four of them were holding back giggles and hiding their grins behind books.

“Really it’s not that funny.” Adrien said, rolling his eyes as he tried to bite back a grin.

“It was the funniest thing I ever saw.” Nino insisted. He had just shared a story about the time he and Adrien had been at Adrien’s house and he hadn’t believed that Adrien had his own pool. Adrien had shown him and like any best friend Nino had pushed Adrien in, without knowing he wasn’t a strong swimmer. The water was only about five feet deep but Adrien had flailed around in a panic before scrambling back up onto the tiles, gasping like a caught fish in his soaking wet clothes. Nino had tried to pull him up but had been laughing too hard to be much actual help.

“Were you okay?” Marinette whispered to the pages of her textbook. The mix of not looking directly at Adrien and speaking in a whisper seemed to make her more comfortable speaking full sentences.

“Oh yeah,” Adrien said dismissively, as if he hadn’t spent the rest of the day in squelching shoes, jumping whenever Nino motioned like he would push him. It had been funny every time.

“Aww, that’s sweet of you to be concerned.” Nino said to Marinette, grinning mischievously. She blushed bright red and glared at him. It was amazing what a drop of venom could do to those previously soft blue eyes.

All four of them heard the distinctive footsteps of the librarian over their muffled giggles. They all bit down on them and pretended to focus solely on their books like trained professionals. The librarian strode along beside their table, the clicking of her heels slowing down as she passed them, and Nino could imagine her glaring at them from behind her black rimmed glasses. But he didn’t look up. None of them did, and Marinette lazily flipped her page, a nice touch. Eventually the librarian passed on.

They all kept silent for a minute or so, making sure the librarian was out of hearing range. Just then Alya’s phone pinged, breaking their silence. Nino recognized that alert noise, it was the Ladybug Alert. He looked up to Marinette, who was watching Alya check her phone, shoulders squared like she was already in the middle of a fight.

“What is it?” Adrien looked between the three of them, and Nino realized he was the only one who wouldn’t be able to recognize the tone.

“An akuma attack near the Louvre,” Alya said, tapping something for more information. “No sign of Ladybug or Chat Noir yet, but they’ll show up soon.” Alya looked around the library, trying to figure out where the librarian was, trying to see if she would be able to sneak out and be at the scene. Nino looked back to Marinette, and jerked his head towards the door. She shouted at him with her eyes for being too obvious. She must be anxious to leave, though, and he tried to think of a way to help her get out of class. The rest of the library was silent except for the hushed mutterings of their fellow classmates.

“Do you know anything about the akuma?” Adrien was gripping the edge of the table, leaning forwards towards Alya with intensity. Alya was scrolling through the news story and shook her head.

“There’s just a lot of confusion, it looks like.” She said. Marinette opened her mouth to say something, Nino guessed with some excuse to leave, when Adrien stood up.

“Interesting,” he said. “I have to go to the bathroom.” He grabbed his bag and left in a hurry. That boy had one tiny bladder. The librarian asked him where he was going before he left. Marinette, tense now, bit her lip. The librarian never let more than one person leave for the bathroom at a time and “I have to use the bathroom” was the easiest way to get out of class. She sent a panicked look to Nino, and he sprang into action.

What he was going to say he had no idea, but suddenly words were coming out of his mouth.

“Ah, Mari, weren’t your parents going to the Louvre today?” He asked in a flash of inspiration. He put as much hinting as possible in his tone. He would have winked if Alya wasn’t staring at him now.

“Oh! Um, yes!” Marinette stood, grabbed her bag, and smiled gratefully at him, briefly so no one would notice it. “I have to go check to make sure they got home safely! Tell the librarian where I went!” She said as she ran out of the room before anyone could stop her. The librarian noticed and called after her, but Alya explained the situation and the librarian stood down. Akuma related incidents were given leniency.

Alya sat back at their table and frowned at Nino. “I should have gone with her.” She said, crossing her arms. Nino shook his head.

“No, no, because… um…” he hadn’t thought this far about what he would say. Alya was staring at him now. His flash of inspiration had worn out. “Because then I’d be here all alone!” _When in doubt, flirt awkwardly_ he thought as he flashed her a smile. She rolled her eyes but couldn’t hide her look of amusement. _Bullet dodged._

“How did you know that about Mari’s parents anyway?” Alya asked, her expression turned questioning. “I didn’t even know that.”

“We hung out yesterday.” He said without thinking, and could have kicked himself. Why couldn’t he just have said he saw it on facebook?

“Oh you did, did you?” Alya’s arms were crossed. Not a good sign. “Was this after you texted that you had gone home to comfort your mother?” Nino’s mouth went dry.

“Ahh, um, no, or well, yes I mean, but…” his mind raced through the possible answers he could give, then he did what he always did when he was blanking on an answer on a test: he stopped thinking and let his brain run without supervision. “I stopped by the bakery on my way home, my mom loves their sticky buns.” That was at least partially true. His mom really loved sticky buns.

“Uh huh.” Alya’s arms were still crossed, and she sounded worryingly unconvinced. “Are you sure there’s not something else going on?”

Nino froze. He had really got himself into a situation now. He stuttered out something incoherent and tried to piece together something resembling denial but it was hard when his entire brain was screaming _RED ALERT! RED ALERT! CUTE GIRL ANGRY AT YOU! YOU’RE MESSING IT UP BUDDY!_

Alya snorted, the last thing he was expecting. She actually laughed at him, punching him in the arm. “Relax, guy, I’m just messing with you.” She said with a grin. He forced out a laugh, but mostly he was willing his heart rate to go down and pretending her punch (which she no doubt thought was light and playful) didn’t hurt.

Alya was grinning like she wasn’t ready to give up the subject but Nino was saved from any follow up questions she might ask by the librarian sticking her head around a bookshelf and glaring at them. They went back to their books.

****

Marinette never came back to class, and by the time school was over Alya was getting worried about her. She suggested swinging by the bakery to check on her after school. Nino said he’d go with her, mostly in order to stop her from asking the Dupain-Cheng parents any awkward questions.

Alya was on her phone as they left the classroom, checking for any updates on the akuma attack situation.

“It’s still not over.” Alya said, brow furrowing. “Ladybug and Chat Noir showed up, and it died down, but this says the akuma’s just gone into hiding and that Ladybug still hasn’t purified them yet.”

Which meant that if Alya went to the bakery like she was planning to she’d find Marinette’s parent’s there, having never gone to the Louvre, and no Marinette. He had to distract her.

“You should go film something for the Ladyblog.” He suggested as he sped up to match her brisk march across the courtyard.

“I have to check on Mari first, make sure everything’s okay there.” She said. Nino shook his head.

“But you don’t know how much longer it’s gonna go, it could be over soon! I’ll check on Mari, you get your update.”

Alya smiled at him for a moment but went back to determination very quickly. “I should come with you just for a second at least, she’s my best friend and her parents are maybe hurt. I should at least make sure she’s there.”

Nino blanked on more reasons Alya should go, and racked his brain for something to say as the two of them went down the stairs in front of the school. Alya took them at a possibly dangerous pace. Nino had to practically run to keep up.

“Hey, what ever happened to Adrien?” Alya asked, eyes on her phone as she waited for Nino at the bottom of the stairs.

“Oh I dunno, maybe he got a call on the toilet.” Nino shrugged. Adrien was always leaving for various activities at a moment’s notice. Nino didn’t notice it as much anymore.

Alya made some kind of noncommittal grunt, like she wasn’t so sure. She slipped her phone into her pocket and started towards the bakery. Nino internally cursed the fact that it was so damn close to the school. He needed more time to be able to get Alya to agree to leave. He had to convince her to go find Ladybug. That was his best bet to get her to give up on finding Marinette. The irony was only partially lost on him.

“Seriously, Alya, Marinette is definitely fine. I’ll go make sure, and I’ll text you once I talk to her. You should get an update, you have your loyal followers to think about!” He grinned in a way he hoped was persuasive. Alya pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes.

“You sure this isn’t just an excuse to be alone with her again?” She asked. Nino’s brain launched right back into panic mode before she snorted. “Good lord, I’m teasing! See you later, nerd. If there’s anything wrong text me, I’ll come right back.”

Nino nodded, mentally exhausted by all this teasing. She waved and ran off in the direction of the Louvre and he breathed a sigh of relief. Now he just needed to wait an acceptable amount of time, text her that nothing was wrong and Marinette hadn’t come back to class because she had homework or something, and maybe text Marinette to tell her to let Alya know everything was fine. Did she still have her phone on her as Ladybug? He filed that away as something to ask her next time he had a chance.

That chance came pretty soon. The akuma attack didn’t last much longer, he knew it couldn’t have. And once it was over Marinette came rushing through the front doors of the bakery, only spotting him sitting at a table because he waved her over.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, walking over and putting both hands on his table. He shrugged.

“I was in the area and figured I might as well stick around and wait for you to be finished saving Paris.” He grinned at her despite her death glare. There was no one in the front of the bakery just then, no chance anyone could have overheard. He had made sure.

“Well as long as you’re here, what happened after I left?” she asked him, leaning in so she could whisper. He told her about how Alya had told the librarian why she’d left and how he’d convinced Alya that she didn’t have to check up on Marinette after school. Marinette nodded, breathing a sigh of relief.

“Thanks, Nino, really.” She said, sitting across from him. She leaned across the table and spoke so quietly he had to lean in too. He vaguely remembered Alya’s teasing and prayed he would be lucky for once and she wouldn’t come marching into the bakery.

“That’s one of the hardest parts, honestly.” Marinette said. “Coming up with fake reasons to leave, lying about where I am during an attack. It gets exhausting.” She paused for a moment, then sat back and smiled. “It’s so nice to finally be able to tell someone about this stuff, to have someone I don’t have to lie to.” She said. He grinned back at her and shrugged.

“Happy to help.” He said. “Hey, have you thought any more about telling Alya about this? I mean, if talking to me is nice imagine what talking to your best friend would be like!”

Marinette heaved a heavy sigh. “Yeah, I thought about it. But I really think that the fewer people know the less likely it’ll come out. I mean, could you have been any less obvious today?” She gave him an unimpressed look.

“I’ll get better, I promise.” He said. “It’s just kind of new right now, but I’ll get used to it.”

“I know you’re doing your best Nino, thanks.” She smiled at him and his phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out to see that Alya had texted him.

“Alya has something important to tell me, apparently.” He said. “I better go, don’t want her getting suspicious.”

Marinette raised her eyebrows. “Suspicious of what exactly?”

Nino laughed a little uncomfortably. “Oh, she was teasing me earlier today about… like…” instead of finishing his sentence he waved a hand between him and Marinette. “Y’know.”

Marinette laughed. “Oh, no way would she think anything’s actually happening.” She assured him, though it wasn’t very comforting as she was laughing the whole time. “No way. She’s smarter then that.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought, but it was scary. She’s really good at teasing.”

Marinette nodded empathetically, her laughter dying down. “Oh I know.”

Nino’s phone buzzed again, and he got up to leave. She thanked him for listening and he promised he could be there anytime, and then someone came into the bakery and Marinette had to work at the till. He waved to her as he left.  

He met Alya in a park near downtown Paris and was surprised to see her sitting on a bench with Adrien. She was typing something furiously on her phone, probably an update for the Ladyblog. Nino couldn’t figure out where she’d run into Adrien, never mind why they were hanging out. He didn’t think just the two of them had ever hung out. When Adrien spotted Nino coming he waved and poked Alya in the shoulder to get her attention. She jumped up and rushed over to him, leaving Adrien on the bench.

“I have made an _immense_ discovery.” She exclaimed to him, her excitement evident in every word. She grabbed him by both shoulders, as if trying to transfer some of her surplus excited energy into him.

“What kind of discovery?” He asked, unable to help getting swept up in her emotion. She was practically vibrating and jumped a little as she dragged him by the sleeve towards the bench.

“The kind of discovery that is not mine to tell, but don’t worry you’re still gonna know.” She grinned at him. “However, I can tell you that it’s the second most amazing discovery I could possibly ever make.”

He was left to wonder what that could be while she dragged him across the park till he was standing in front of Adrien. She grabbed Adrien by the shirtsleeve and pulled him up to standing. “Now, you tell your best friend what you told me.” She said to him. He kicked at the ground a little and took a breath.

“I mean, I didn’t really tell you, you kinda forced it—”

“Just!” She shoved at him and he relented. He smiled awkwardly at Nino, looking nervous, but a little excited. Alya’s energy was contagious. And there was something else in Adrien’s face too, something Nino couldn’t quite figure out. He scratched the back of his neck, and then spoke.

“Well, um, I’m Chat Noir.”

For the second time in two days Nino’s head completely blanked. The next thing he was able to think was _YOU GOTTA BE GOD DAMN KIDDING ME_.


	3. Chapter 2.5: Amazing Detective Slash Genius

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alya puts her super smart detective skills to work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finals week is kicking my butt, so chapter three is taking longer than I'd hoped it would. Instead here's a shorter-than-normal bonus scene, hope you guys like it!

There was something strange about that boy. As Alya watched Adrien run out of the library, coincidentally needing to use the bathroom just after hearing the news of an akuma attack, an old suspicion floated up from the back of her mind. She narrowed her eyes at his back as the library door swung closed. Something very strange…

It did nothing to make her less suspicious when he never came back to class.

She was remembering this, and that one time she’d drawn a black cat suit on a picture of Adrien, while she watched Chat Noir and Ladybug take down the latest akuma after school. She was paying specific attention to Chat Noir, something she rarely did. Not that she didn’t like him as a hero or anything, just that Ladybug was always more interesting. But today she peered extra hard at Chat, trying to imagine him as the model boy who sat in front of her in class. His hair was messier and Chat had always seemed more outspoken than Adrien, but Alya was struck mostly with the fact that, just based on appearance alone, it was not impossible. They _could_ be the same person. She needed to find out for sure.

After the akuma was purified Chat left the scene quick, already about to transform since he’d used Cataclysm early in the fight. Alya had to make a quick decision, and she decided that instead of sticking around to try and talk to Ladybug like she usually would she ran after Chat, keeping her eye on him as he vaulted between rooftops. He was hard to keep up with, but wasn’t able to go very far. She saw him disappear behind a building and for a moment worried that she’d lost him, but she had just turned a corner to be directly across the street when Adrien walked around the building, hands in his pockets and whistling as if he spent all his days hanging out in back alleys.

Alya was pretty sure she screamed. She definitely shouted something because Adrien’s head whipped around to look at her. She was pointing at him, grinning manically, possibly she was jumping. Adrien grinned cautiously and waved at her. He was doing his best to look merely confused at her behaviour, but she could tell that he was nervous, that he thought maybe she’d figured something out, even though he was doing his best to hide it. She could tell because she was a genius.

“I knew it!” She screamed as she ran across the street, blatantly jaywalking. “I knew it I knew it I knew it!”

“Um, hey Alya, what’s going on?” Adrien asked, putting so much effort into trying to sound nonchalant that he would have never succeeded.

Alya skidded to a stop in front of him, grabbed his shoulders. He was looking slightly scared now. She made herself calm down a little before she said, grinning wildly, “It’s you!”

“Um, yes it is.” He tried to take a step back but Alya was gripping him tight. He wouldn’t be running from her before she was sure that she was right.

“I knew it was.” She said this confidently, even as a thread of doubt snuck into her brain. There was no way she was wrong, she knew that, but on the off chance she was this was going to end up really embarrassing for her. Still, she didn’t let herself second guess what she was sure of. “I knew you were Chat Noir.”

All her doubt was swept away when Adrien’s reaction was to pause, looking panicked, and then force a tense laugh. No one innocent would act so caught. She was even more sure when he started panic babbling.

“Oh, come on, that’s… that’s ridiculous! How could I possibly be… I… I’m Chat Noir? That, that is so… it’s ridiculous, is what it is and, and frankly, how do I know you’re not Chat Noir? Huh? Maybe that’s you who is that person.” He pressed his mouth closed as if it took physical effort to stop the panic babble from falling out of his mouth.

“Real convincing.” Alya said, smirking a little.

“You don’t have any proof!” Adrien declared, and squeezed his mouth shut again.

Alya took one hand off his shoulder so she could list things off on her fingers. “You left for the bathroom today in class and you never came back, actually you’re always just randomly disappearing, you’re always late for class when there’s an akuma attack, you kind of look just like Chat Noir, and I just saw Chat Noir disappear into the alley you just walked out of.” She grinned, feeling the smug satisfaction that comes from a mystery solved.

Adrien must have realized that he was incapable of creating a convincing counter argument because he seemed to back down. “I admit to nothing.” He said stubbornly, avoiding her eyes. She grinned.

“That’s sounds an awful lot like a confession.” She said, more than a hint of teasing in her voice. “Come on, Adrien, you can tell me, I’m not gonna tell anyone.”

He gave her a skeptical look. She sighed. “Honestly, I promise.” She said.

“Not even your many blog readers?” He asked. She nodded. She thought briefly about how, whenever she had previously imagined discovering the identity of Paris’s favourite superhero duo she’d imagined being celebrated as the best 15-year-old investigative journalist in Paris. But she knew she couldn’t post this, not if Adrien was asking her not to.

“I swear, I will not tell anyone, and it will not go on the Ladyblog.” She put a hand over her heart. “You can trust me, we’re friends aren’t we?” She said this even though the two of them had never really hung out before, never really talked one on one. Still, she liked him, and that was close enough.

Adrien breathed a sigh of relief. “Good. Ladybug might have killed me if it got out.”

At the mention of Ladybug Alya wondered if perhaps now she had the insider information she needed to figure out the identity of the other hero of Paris. “Adrien,” she asked, “important question: do you know who Ladybug is?”

Adrien sighed and shook his head. “Even if I did, honestly, I probably wouldn’t tell you. Ladybug is super private. She’d definitely kill me.”

Alya tried to hide her disappointment. Adrien didn’t. His disappointment was plain on his face as he thought of Ladybug.

“Honestly, sometimes she drives me a little crazy.” Adrien was all of a sudden talking about his relationship with Ladybug, how he couldn’t figure her out, how he wished more than anything he could know who she was but how he wouldn’t dream of overstepping that boundary she’d set so strictly on their partnership. It took Alya by surprise, she had never heard Adrien talk so bluntly at school. He seemed pretty reserved for the most part, with everyone except for Nino. Suddenly an idea struck her.

“Sorry, I’m rambling.” Adrien said eventually, blushing a little. Alya smiled understandingly. Being best friends with Marinette had gotten her used to long, rambling, lovesick speeches.

“No, it’s okay, it’s pretty clear you needed someone to talk to about this stuff.” She patted his shoulder, no longer holding him still but instead as a symbol of friendly sympathy. “Isn’t there anyone else you can talk to about this? Someone else who knows you’re Chat Noir?”

He shook his head. “No one was supposed to know, but I gotta say, it’s kind of nice being able to say this stuff to someone who will actually listen.” For a moment Alya was about to ask what he meant by that, but decided it probably wasn’t important.

“So not even your best friend?” She said, hands on her hips. “Don’t you think you should tell Nino at least?”

Adrien shrugged. “I mean, I never really thought about it…”

“I know Nino would want to know.” Alya didn’t really know that, but she could make an educated guess. She knew that she would want to know if she were Nino. She knew that Nino would keep Adrien’s secret. And she knew that Adrien needed someone to talk to about all this Chat Noir business, someone he already felt comfortable talking to.

And okay, maybe it would be nice if someone else would be able to recognize her investigative genius.

“So,” she prompted him when he didn’t answer her for a moment, “do you want to tell him?”

“Well, I mean yeah, maybe…”

“Great!” Alya pulled her phone out of her pocket, smiling brightly. “I’ll text him now.”

She ignored Adrien’s shocked look, evidently he hadn’t thought she meant tell him that instant. But she was confident that this was a good idea. Adrien needed as many people who would listen to him as he could get. Before coming to school his only friend had been Chloe, for goodness sake. It was a miracle he turned out as good as he did. He needed good, close friends who would talk to him about all aspects of his life, including his super hero secret identity. She could tell.

She really was a brilliant detective.


End file.
